Perrotti Wrestles for Fifth-Place Medal

ATLANTIC CITY—Anthony Perrotti waited two years to get back here.

After transferring to West Essex High School following an eighth-place finish at 103 pounds as a freshman, the 119-pounder was forced to watch from the stands last year at the NJSIAA State Wrestling Championships.

He made up for lost time, however, despite falling to Don Bosco Prep.'s Joe Orecchio 3-1 in the quarterfinals of this year's State Wrestling Championships at Boardwalk Hall on Saturday.

"Right now I feel like I can compete with anyone," said Perrotti, who transferred from Queen of Peace. "It was a tough loss [to Orecchio], but I've wrestled him for eight years and we knew each other's style. He's just a tough wrestler."

Perrotti didn't sulk with the tough defeat to Orecchio; instead it fueled him. He faced off against Joe Esposito in the second-round wrestleback, and made quick work of his opponent—pinning him in just 56 seconds.

"Definitely," was Perrotti's immediate answer as to whether or not there was extra internal motivation for him this season after a year away from the mats at Boardwalk Hall. "To come this far—it paid off in the end to transfer, and it's been hard work all year."

Despite the four-hour break before the quarterfinal wrestleback round, Perrotti showed no rust. As a matter of fact, he looked even better than he did in the early session.

Perrotti met Matt Sausman, of the 2010 Non-Public B state champion Camden Catholic wrestling team, and if you blinked you missed the entire bout. Sausman was quick-pinned in just 29 seconds.

"That's been one of my go-to moves all year," Perrotti said of his pinning move on Sausman. "When it's time to state medal you go with anything out there."

It was an ironic familiarity that helped Perrotti against his old foe.

"I wrestled [Sausman] all the time when I was younger," Perrotti said. "We were looking for this matchup the whole tournament."

Perrotti met Eastern's Robert Deutsch, the 112-pound defending champion, in the consolation semifinal, and it proved too tall a task.

Perrotti fell behind 2-0 after the first period, looking a step slower than Deutsch, and was never able to recover. He pulled to within 4-3 midway through the second period, but Deutsch outlasted him with a 7-3 decision.